Chapter VII

The Awakening of the Beast

"Once more!" I repeat to myself, concentrating my elemental chakra in my palm before shaping it.

Despite the exhaustion that blurs my sight or makes my legs falter, I persevere, I continue. The Lightning Blade takes shape with difficulty and I struggle to keep it under control; unstable, the sparks burn my skin when the chaotic straps caress it. I try to strengthen my technique, but my bruised meridians are on fire and I almost collapse. Nevertheless, I force myself to stay conscious and I silence the tremors in my entire arm. Breathing hard, I rush to smash the rocky obstacle in front of me. My blow sinks and cracks the stone, but it resists; only crumbs fly away as the wall crumbles briefly. I am exhausted, sincerely, I know it; my mind is screaming at me to take a break… I forbid myself. If I can't push my limits over and over again, I won't progress.

Each shot must be optimal.

Each shot must be precise.

Each shot must succeed.

Faced with this failure, I pull out my arm without worrying about the natural blades scratching my limb; a few scarlet marks bead bloody drops that disappear in the dew-drenched grass, then return to the earth. These ephemeral scratches are nothing compared to the hell my student must go through if he is still alive. With my chakra channels boiling like hot water, I convince myself that I deserve it, that this is my punishment for my weakness. I was the most promising ninja of my generation, a true genius that one could only envy to equal. If I have to compare myself with today, I am pathetic, a monumental disappointment even and again, it's a euphemism.

"Once more," I whisper again.

As my chakra manipulation was accompanied by excruciating pain pulsing through my entire being, I sense a presence coming my way. I sigh heavily as I cease my activity, at least long enough to tell this person to leave me alone. The message has not reached their ears yet? I do not plan to slow down, on the contrary, I must redouble my efforts; nothing they can say can stop me.

"Wasn't I clear?" I curtly say. "Stop interfering with my training."

"Master Kakashi…"

I recognize Iruka Umino's voice. A bit of curiosity about his presence creeps into my mind, but it's hardly enough to make me turn around and face him.

"Don't you have a class to take care of?" I snarl, not hiding my bad mood and the fact that he's annoying me.

The forehead sweaty, motionless, I patiently wait for him to leave while regaining control over my unstable breathing.

"We found Naruto."

I freeze on the spot, my heart starts its mad race in my rib cage tortured by overwork. Did I hear correctly? We would have found Naruto? Is it true? A headache sets in as these questions torment my overheated mind. I feel myself suffocating in a tiny box where only the beating of my organ goes to my ears, as if the whole world were emancipating me from its universe. It only lasts a second, but it seems like an eternity to me; I almost see myself falling victim to the Tsukuyomi again, besides the pain, besides the despair driven away by a gleam.

Slowly, I turn my head towards him and my ebony iris meets his. The anguish is unbearable; unconsciously, I still expect the worst. However, a smile forms on his face until I see his teeth as bright as his expression.

"He's alive," he tells me, brushing away what I guess is a tear trapped in the corner of his eye socket.

For the first time in endless weeks, I feel as a colossal weight has been lifted from my shoulders. A huge relief takes over my body, my head, and I have to hold myself back so as not to lose my footing to stay upright. I no longer experience the pain, both physical and mental, but fatigue catches up with me like a well-placed punch. Helped by a sigh, it takes me a while to find calm in my whole being. If I could, I would shed a tear too.

A silence takes place as the wind blows, leaving new leaves in its wake.

"Where is he?" I impatiently ask.

"At the hospital. Godaime awaits you there."

"I see. Thank you, Iruka."

As I am about to leave, I stop asking him about his arrival since it is Friday and the kids have class.

"Why you?"

He chuckles heartily.

"Godaime suspected you would be more inclined to listen to me."

His words take me by surprise given their veracity. It is true that—now that I think about it—I haven't been very "friendly" these past few days; a lonely white wolf who preferred to show his fangs above all else. Nonetheless, it warms my heart that Lady Tsunade knew what to do about me. Even Sakura got the treatment of silence; too ashamed to face her.

I nod before heading to the Hospital. I don't need the details, I don't need to know more for now. The most important thing is that he is alive and safe in the village.


It only takes me a few minutes for the hospital building to be in my field of vision, in the distance. Surprised, but not surprised, I notice that the village has suddenly increased vigilance, especially near my destination. Shinobis stand guard and two of them watch the main gates. Since I am expected there, seeing me arrive, they let me in; as on the outside, the inside is just as guarded. It is only after few steps that they come to meet me.

"Hatake Kakashi?" asks the nurse in charge of the visitors.

I walk towards her, shaking my head.

"Yes. Where can I find Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Wait here, please. I must inform Godaime that you are—"

Suddenly, an infernal hustle cuts her off and attracts my attention, and that of others. An ominous orchestra that started with the closest thing to an explosion, screams and sonic syllables that I can hardly identify are then added. I understand that this kind of cacophony never bodes well and anxiety emerges and seeks to occupy all my thoughts. My first hypothesis is that the enemy has already relaunched the assault…

Not this time, no. Not twice.

I exchange a brief look with the other two ninjas in the room and without saying a word, we know what to do. Depending on the distance of the sound, I guess roughly where to go. Despite the cockroaches creeping in my mind, I do not lose hope, I remain confident. Leading the march, we run through the hallways in the direction of the intensive care department. On our way, we meet some staff members who have fled. At first glance, there are a few injuries, but nothing alarming; just a few scratches. However, we hasten our pace and enter the said department.

As I pass through the double doors, I note with concern that panic is king. Medical-nin provide care and I recognize one of the chūnins sitting on the ground, leaning against one of the walls of the hallway receiving first aid. A few metres away, I see that the surrounding walls of one of the rooms is cracked and that the area in front of said room is sunken, or even totally demolished; probably someone was propelled with prodigious strength to inflict such damage. But the most worrying thing is that flames are starting to spread. I don't linger any longer, then go to meet the ninja in poor condition.

"What's going on?" I inquire.

He is coughing and his body is shaking; he tries to speak, but only intelligible words come out:

"It… It's… N-Na… Na…"

Unfortunately for him, I don't have time to stay here since I perceive a hot gust followed by a shinobi being thrown from where the flames fuelled by others are coming from. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the man fall heavily to the ground. I gave up my questioning and rush in the direction of chaos; too bad for the short information that could have been useful to me.

"Someone warned Godaime?!" shouts one of the ninjas before entering.

This large room is used to monitor treatment rooms requiring observation, which are four in number. In front of one of them, the few shinobis are on the defensive. Before I can go any further, I meet Lady Tsunade who arrives from another door almost at the same time as me and my improvised group. She notices me, but she is focused on the situation and the concern is visible in her face. In all, we are less than ten and no member of the medical team in sight.

"Someone explain to me what's going on!" she screams before freezing in place.

On her heels, I get there too. I barely have time to approach when they yell at us to take cover. Mechanically, I push myself aside and a fireball of living inferno rolls over us, igniting everything in its path. I recognize there the fire release. We are under attack, that's obvious, but why isn't anyone doing anything to eradicate the threat? It's only when I can finally see into the bedroom that I understand why. In front of my eye, this vision of horror paralyzes me.

In this room ruined by conflagration and violent exchanges, I notice Naruto; it's him, but I don't recognize him. His blond mane are capillary flames instead which undulate and dance on his head; a black tail swinging in all directions with the equally fiery tip; a wild and crazy gaze with sapphire eyes shining like fireflies in the night; a facial expression that I could confuse with that of the demon fox … and yet, his irises are far from scarlet; an incredible amount of blue chakra splitting the air which seems to be able to create hurricanes and which carries with it the burning infernos. The heat is unbearable and I am forced to keep an arm raised to protect my visage from these suffocating and crushing puffs. I see my unrecognizable student opens his mouth briefly and flames escape in a rotten growl of animosity; it is at this same time that I notice prominent and worrying fangs.

Countless questions plague my thoughts as they try in vain to figure out what is going on—rather, my brain doesn't believe them and can hardly process the information. I wonder if it's really Naruto, there, here, before my eye. It looks as if I'm not the only one since Godaime is in a similar state to mine. After a few seconds, she comes to her senses and demands answers. One of the injured in the background decides to speak:

"We were told a staff member was checking his IVs when he suddenly woke up attacking anyone who comes near him on sight. We tried to contain him, but…"

During his speech, a kunoichi takes a step too close towards the teenager who uses his raw chakra like a gust of wind to push my sister in arms and throw her backwards until she reaches the wall opposite. The violence of the blow wrung a bloody cough from her. However, one element caught my ebony eye; I'm uncertain, so I focus on Naruto to make sure I saw it right.

"What are you waiting for to stop him?!" Lady Tsunade grumbles, visibly annoyed. "Use force if necessary, we must prevent him from causing further damage!"

"Wait! Do nothing!" I yell at everyone as I walked past the entrance before raising my arm to tell them to keep their positions.

They turn to stare at me, question marks above their heads. At first glance, I'm the only one who noticed it…

"If you look carefully, he stays on the defensive and doesn't try to attack on his own," I explain.

Indeed, when I approached, Naruto's crazy eyes scanning the room and the surroundings without any real visual target locked on my person and since then, he hasn't taken his eyes off me. Slowly, by moving my arm, I confirm that this is undoubtedly the case since his irises follow the movements of my upper limb; at this, one of his bare feet briefly slips back and the gesture is barely noticeable. If we don't pay attention—in this shambles of chaos—it makes sense not to dwell on such minor details when life is threatened. Also, Naruto's breath is rapid, close to hyperventilating, and tremors possess him more and more.

I can confirm that, yes.

It's not aggressiveness, no.

But pure fear, yes.

"Leave it to me," I say, stepping forward—making the teen arch even more.

"Hatake Kakashi, you…"

"Trust me!" I insist curtly, cutting off the fifth Hokage. "Stay back!"

Luckily, no one tries to stop me and this silence is a sign that they allow me to take the situation in hand. Nevertheless, concern mingles with the already terribly tense atmosphere; the pressure is palpable. In front of me, Naruto is terrified, I can see it, even feel it. If I'm not careful, I could be hurt or worse, cause my student to see me as a threat to his survival. I don't know how serious his state is or why he doesn't recognize us, but until he's calmed down, he's still a danger to us as well as him.

I take a deep breath and exhale slowly as a bead of sweat forms on my temple. To say that I am serene would be a lie… Not to mention that the heat is stifling, the oxygen rare in this artificial hell. Watching the sapphire-eyed boy's every move carefully, I step forward, one foot at a time, interrupted by pauses. As I suspected, Naruto—in response—takes a step back after each of mine. Unlike the kunoichi, he hasn't counterattacked yet while I'm much closer than she was; I convince myself that I must be on the right track.

"Naruto? You recognize me? It's me, Kakashi."

As gently as my words, I raise my arms forward to signify in a non-verbal way that I am not a threat or trying to hurt him, while continuing my progress. The blond's breathing quickens, he makes sure to keep the distance between us and his growls are less loud than they were—more like, become hisses. I also notice that the phenomenal amount of chakra he was releasing has stopped, thus stopping the boiling wind. However, the flames persist. I don't know if my words reach him, but I persevere in trying to get to him; a hope that he wakes up from this trance so that I can recognize my precious pupil.

"You don't have to be afraid of me."

Another step back and Naruto hits the wall behind him. He jumps, glances over his shoulder before looking back at me. He arches his back more, as does his breathing and the shivering; he negatively anticipates my actions. If I rush it all, it's over. Since he can't back away, slowly I reduce the distance to the point where there's only an arm between us. Silence is king and my dark iris does not leave those brilliant of the teenager. Very close to him, his fiery hair licks my face like the embers that push me to close my eye… However, in order not to lose eye contact, I keep it open.

A hesitation, an eternity and a risky bet.

Without warning, I take him in my arms and hug him; his head burns my chest, my visage, and I don't care. As our hearts beat in unison, he freezes; a twitch, then the tremors fade away.

"Everything's fine, Naruto. It's over, I'm here," I whisper tenderly, hugging him even more tightly.

The sapphire-eyed boy doesn't seem to know how to react since he's not moving. To my relief, his blond mane fades and returns to its normal form, as does that strange tail and the flames consuming the surroundings. I can finally breathe without misery. I can't describe the emotion that seizes me when I truly recognize Naruto and manage to say that it is him, here, alive, in my embrace. I was losing hope and sinking deeper and deeper into my own torments; the light has driven out the darkness.

Shortly after, I notice his body become heavy, relax completely and I have to catch him so he doesn't fall. Not expecting this sudden unconsciousness, I crouched down until I had to sit on the ground with the teenager in my arms. Seeing him so peaceful, I feel as he is sleeping … but above all, his face is finally familiar to me.

Naruto, I will never let anyone hurt you again.

On my life, I swear to protect you from those who did this to you.

I will find a remedy for your suffering, whatever it is. You can trust me.